Cédric Pioline: "When Nadal enters your head, you're dead"

He was at the center of the event.

Wednesday evening, when the public was invited to evacuate the Philippe-Chatrier court in the middle of the fourth set of the quarter-final between Djokovic and Berrettini due to the curfew imposed by the government, Cédric Pioline, 51, was in the first lodges.

Roland-Garros official “interviewer” for “10 years” - with Marion Bartoli and Fabrice Santoro who arrived later - he intervenes after each match to ask the winners the first questions.

On Wednesday he was therefore the privileged witness of an absurd scene during the night session broadcast by Amazon Prime Video.

The former world number 5, double finalist in Grand Slam, tells us his impressions and his predictions on the end of the tournament.

How do you view your activity as an interviewer?

CÉDRIC PIOLINE.

I love.

It is a privilege and an excitement.

Not once have I stepped onto the court without feeling a little stress.

It is a short but important moment in the course of the tournament.

We do not have the right to make mistakes.

We are the first speaker, we are normally the link between the player and the audience.

We hope to return to a normal situation next year because that makes two editions where things are not the same.

There is a distance, last year some had the mask.

It is not the same emotion.

We are at the service of the players, the tournament and the public.

What is the point then of intervening in the evening, late, in an empty stadium?

We are also there for foreign TVs.

There are 80 or 90 channels, most no longer send a reporter there, so we offer the first hot statement, the only statement for some viewers in the world.

That is why we are translating into English.

How would you have reacted as a former player if you had been asked to answer questions at midnight in an empty stadium?

If we were asked, us former players, it is because we have a legitimacy, a background and a sensitivity. We are going to ask certain questions that would be more delicate for a journalist. If it comes from us, they are more comfortable. We are not there to put them in difficulty or to argue. Wednesday was a bit tricky. It's nobody's fault except this pandemic, but there were two games in one. Foreign players do not necessarily know how it goes in France. It is not known if Novak will criticize. I know where I want to take him, but I can't control his response.

# RG21: The world n ° 2, Medvedev did not really enjoy playing in the night session on Tuesday night against Tsitsipas!

To find it on https://t.co/9c5UZA67nn / @TennisActu #Medvedev #RolandGarros #FrenchOpen #NightSession #Amazon #RGsurPrime #Television #PrizeMoney #TennisActu pic.twitter.com/7gTLGX44gZ

- PUMPKIN Emmanuel (@ManuPotiron) June 9, 2021

You do not speak to them before the intervention on the court?

Often we do it, but there he was in such a state of nervousness.

When I see him take his bag I think he wants to leave the court right away.

In the 10 years that I have been doing this, so a hundred interventions, there is only once a player, a player in this case because it was Maria Sharapova, refused to stay to answer questions.

She had explained that she had a cold.

Finally he positioned himself before Berrettini even came out.

Were you afraid he would refuse to answer?

I feared him.

How did you experience this in camera for the night sessions?

It's complicated, you can't rely on the support and encouragement of the audience.

Wednesday was beautiful with the lights on.

People were rediscovering a flavor, being able to make noise again.

Everyone has been locked up for a year and a half.

Do you understand the anger of the people who were forced to leave Roland-Garros during the 4th round on Wednesday evening?

Yes, but the tournament has nothing to do with it, it is the government that imposes this curfew.

It's always easy to say “but if”, that the match should have started earlier… But you can never know how long a match lasts, even if it started at 7 pm you couldn't be sure no more than it would have ended before 11 p.m.

I understand the dissatisfaction, but there is nothing we can do about it.

If Djokovic had won in 3 sets nobody would have said anything.

There is no solution.

Read also Nadal-Djokovic, their duel in figures

What is your prognosis for the duel between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic?

(

He takes the time to think it over

). Nadal is THE favorite. In their face-to-face meetings he has a fairly clear advantage on this surface, he has beaten Djoko 7 times here

(Editor's note: in 8 confrontations)

. So logically he is the big favorite of the match and the tournament. Djoko is playing well but he will have to raise his level of play if he wants to upset him. At this level it is details, tiny things, but which make it possible to grab one point more than the other and which makes it possible to tilt the score. Last year, when the tournament was held in September and October, everyone, including myself, thought the conditions were not working for Nadal. In the end, he cut everyone up by not losing a single set. In the final, he managed a stratospheric start to the match. He is incredible.

Is facing it here the biggest sporting challenge?

Obviously yes.

There are only two players who have beaten him since 2005 (Söderling in 2009 and Djokovic in 2015).

No one has found the key.

When Sampras stopped playing we said to ourselves that whoever would pick him up at 14 Grand Slams was not born and 20 years later 3 guys passed him.

Nadal may have 14 just to Roland ...

35. Despite losing the second set, @RafaelNadal qualified for the 35th semi-final of his Grand Slam career, the 14th at #RolandGarros.

Every time the Spaniard reached the semi-finals in Paris, he won.

pic.twitter.com/QOCPHiVSwv

- Game, Set and Maths (@JeuSetMaths) June 9, 2021

And in the other semi-final?

We must not forget Zverev who won in Madrid this year.

But it seems to me that Tsitsipas is above.

Physically he is stronger than he was eight months ago.

He has more variety in the game. He is in "the zone" as they say, nothing can happen to him.

But Nadal is above.

Why ?

Nadal even more than at Djokovic has this ability to adapt to all situations.

He has his patterns of play but he is able to change to adapt to his opponent and surprise him.

Even when you feel like you're disturbing him, he manages to catch up with you.

It goes into your head and then you're dead.

What did you think of Roger Federer's withdrawal?

I did not really understand but I am not in his body. He played 3 games here which is the number of games he has played in a year. Maybe his knee swelled, he felt pain. It is normal that he is careful about the rest. It's legitimate on his part, but it's a shame he didn't present it that way.